“But as I travel around this big ol world,
Theres one thing that I most fear:
Its a white man in a golf shirt
With a cell phone in his ear.”
— From “Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall?” a Tom Russell song.

Obama’s Wright Brother Flap: In responding to the media furor over Jeremiah Wright’s remarks on rich, white people and the reasons why this nation was attacked on 9/11, Obama should have said that, while he disagrees with his pastor and old friend on some things, he supports his right to free speech, and to openly express his opinions, just as he would support the right of any American or theologian to speak out freely, even those with whom he profoundly disagrees. Rather than go on the defensive, Obama should have made this a free speech issue, which it is, instead of the ‘judgment’ issue the Punditrocracy is trying to frame it as. And, incidentally, someone tell Chris Matthews to quit mischaracterizing Wright’s comments as ‘blaming the victims of 9/11’ Wright did no such thing. Note to the Big Media: Stop playing Wright’s “God damn America” line out of context. A lot of Americans might agree with Wright if they heard the 120 seconds preceding the ‘offensive’ three words, but, of course, you knew that, didn’t you, you little McCain Trained Monkeys.

Quotable: “Let me be clear on this: This is only a problem for Barack Obama in that there are still a lot of pinheads around that dont understand that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. And hell distance himself from it because he has to and because Wrights style isnt his. Its not how Obama rolls. But theres nothing untrue about Wrights statements in and of themselves.”
— From “Truth Time: Wright Is Right,” by DF, TPM Cafe, March 15, 2008.

And, BTW, when does the BM go after McCain for accepting endorsements from such certifiable fruitcakes as John Hagee, Rod Parsley (wasn’t he once a porn star?) and the late Jerry Falwell?

“All I can tell you is that I am very proud to have Pastor John Hagee’s support.”
— John McCain on Feb. 27, 2008.

Here’s what McCain is “very proud” of: Hagee babbles nonsense like, “I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are — were recipients of the judgment of God for that. The newspaper carried the story in our local area that was not carried nationally that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other Gay Pride parades. I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” (So why did Katrina devastate areas of heterosexual Republican Mississippi as well? God has poor aim?) He has also condemned the Catholic religion as “The Great Whore” and the “anti-Christ,” thinks Harry Potter books are propaganda for Satan, and held a ‘slave sale’ in 1996 to raise job funds for high school seniors. In his Cornerstone Church’s newsletter, Hagee publicized the event with, “Slavery in America is returning to Cornerstone!” and “Make plans to come and go home with a slave.” If this idiot worked a real job, his employers would have fired him by now.

God’s Rod Parsley has hallucinated that our Constitution somewhere says our national mission is to destroy Islam, and Falwell was so far over the edge that he, like Hagee, thought we were attacked on 9/11 as a judgment from God for allowing gays and women basic civil rights, among other head-slapping nutballery from the creepy far-right fringe of his reptilian brain.

— Speaking of McCain (from Jamison Foser at Media Matters):

“If the media applied to John McCain the standards they have applied to Democratic presidential candidates over the years, they would report constantly on his personal financial interest in the tax plan he now advocates and once denounced as skewed toward the wealthy. They would clamor for the release of his tax returns. They would mock him for living in an estate with a pool and a guest house — and then mock him some more for having married into money.
“But, as has long been clear, the media do not cover John McCain the way they have covered countless Democratic presidential candidates. And so they don’t say a word about his personal wealth. They remain silent about his tax returns. And they refer to his ‘rustic cabin.’
“…. As Joe Scarborough, the conservative host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, has said of the national press corps, ‘I think every last one of them would move to Massachusetts and marry John McCain if they could.'”
— Jamison Foser, Media Matters, March 14, 2008.

— Okay, Gerry Ferraro has done her dirty deed for old pal Hillary, even dropping the cherry on top by demanding Obama’s campaign apologize for calling her a racist when they didn’t, so now the injured upper-class white lady can retire to her country club for a few well-deserved vodka martinis served up by that cute black boy behind the bar who ‘knows his place.’ Limousine liberals — Ptooie!

— Rumor on the half-shell: Before the Dem convention in August, and possibly as soon as April, Obama will name popular California Sen. Barbara Boxer as his running mate to split the women’s vote supporting Hillary Clinton, shore up CA, and add to his rep with the progressive crowd. Will Babs do it? Keep watching the skies.

— Another half-baked rumor: Hillary Clinton, should she lose the nomination to Obama, will join Joe Lieberman and run for president as an independent. Her intention is not to win, but to split the Obama vote and make sure he’s defeated so that she can apologize to the Dems and return to the fold in 2012 to run against McCain as a Dem. Far-fetched? Not anymore than what’s been going on so far.

— Watch for Eliot Spitzer’s replacement, Lt. Gov. David Paterson, to make some real changes in New York state when he takes over. Though he may not be able to see well (he’s legally blind), there’s nothing lacking in his other senses, and he’s got a good grassroots progressive record. Ironically, Spitzer’s ‘Hookergate’ may turn out to be a real boon for the Dems and NY.